B1G 25-26

[Floridaduck]

Wow another Wisconsin win! How far off the radar are they for being an NCAA team? I know they have some not great losses but a resume of wins over Michigan State, Nebraska and Oregon is fantastic.

The remaining schedule is not favorable with difficult road games and an only couple winnable home games. But all congrats for the Badgers for rising up from doormat status. Should help both recruiting and portal acquisition.

 

[visitingcock]

The remaining schedule is not favorable with difficult road games and an only couple winnable home games. But all congrats for the Badgers for rising up from doormat status. Should help both recruiting and portal acquisition.

Currently in 9th place in their conference that may get 20 or eleven ncaa bids . Unfortunately, their NET ranking is low. (77 this morning)

I think they are on an upper trajectory after starting the season slowly. They have hope!

 

[cancontent]

 

[ConnMotors]

UCLA, Michigan, Iowa, Ohio State and Michigan State are playing some good ball right now. They still have to play each other but I can see three of these teams being a 2 and 3 seed in the tournament while the Bruins are the second #1

 

[GoChips20]

UCLA, Michigan, Iowa, Ohio State and Michigan State are playing some good ball right now. They still have to play each other but I can see three of these teams being a 2 and 3 seed in the tournament while the Bruins are the second #1

I keep thinking Michigan is the best of those 4 but they don’t actually have a win to back it up. They’ve earned their reputation by playing UConn (and later Vandy) closely but both were still losses.

Ohio State probably has the best overall win (TCU) and beat Maryland. Played UCLA competitively also.

Iowa has good wins (Baylor, Michigan State, Maryland).

MSU beat Ole Miss handily and took down Nebraska and Washington.

Honestly Michigan probably has the weakest true resume at this point but I like their ceiling the most.

 

[cancontent]

I keep thinking Michigan is the best of those 4 but they don’t actually have a win to back it up. They’ve earned their reputation by playing UConn (and later Vandy) closely but both were still losses.

Ohio State probably has the best overall win (TCU) and beat Maryland. Played UCLA competitively also.

Iowa has good wins (Baylor, Michigan State, Maryland).

MSU beat Ole Miss handily and took down Nebraska and Washington.

Honestly Michigan probably has the weakest true resume at this point but I like their ceiling the most.

And that's the crazy part about the BIG10 this season. All this can change in the matter of a couple weeks as several of these teams face off against each other.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Okay, how good is Iowa? That late game collapse against Maryland was scary, but they recovered to win. Other than those disastrous 3 minutes, they've pretty well whipped Maryland and Ohio St. back to back. I definitely didn't see this coming from them.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Minny and Wiscy in an important game w/ both hanging out in the middle of the B1G log jam. Gophers have the upper hand in this one.

 

[cancontent]

Michigan let USC get back into the game during the third quarter, but got themselves back on track to win by 7 today. USC's unforced turnovers hurt them when they finally get momentum on their side, similar to their game against Michigan State. Had they done a better job taking care of the ball, they could have had some impressive wins this week.

 

[cancontent]

Okay, how good is Iowa? That late game collapse against Maryland was scary, but they recovered to win. Other than those disastrous 3 minutes, they've pretty well whipped Maryland and Ohio St. back to back. I definitely didn't see this coming from them.

Iowa being a top ten team this season? Not sure why this is surprising especially this year in the NCAA.

Heiden's improvement from last season is what I expected considering who the head coach is. The "let's make Stuelke a wing" experiment looks to be over and they're letting her play to her strengths more. Wright coming in to take over from Olsen also helped to stabilize the team from a guard play perspective. If this version of Iowa was playing last season, I think they could be where they are now currently.

 

[Bone Dog]

Iowa being a top ten team this season? Not sure why this is surprising especially this year in the NCAA.

Heiden's improvement from last season is what I expected considering who the head coach is. The "let's make Stuelke a wing" experiment looks to be over and they're letting her play to her strengths more. Wright coming in to take over from Olsen also helped to stabilize the team from a guard play perspective. If this version of Iowa was playing last season, I think they could be where they are now currently.

Also, Feuerbach is back and up to speed. I think she's the difference maker for them.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Minnesota hammered Wisconsin 88-53. Badgers have been competitive this year. Make it make sense!

 

[nwhoopfan]

Iowa being a top ten team this season? Not sure why this is surprising especially this year in the NCAA.

Heiden's improvement from last season is what I expected considering who the head coach is. The "let's make Stuelke a wing" experiment looks to be over and they're letting her play to her strengths more. Wright coming in to take over from Olsen also helped to stabilize the team from a guard play perspective. If this version of Iowa was playing last season, I think they could be where they are now currently.

Hmm...I'm going w/ nope. Being 9-0 in Big 10 and hammering other top teams in the conference? I don't think you or anyone else predicted this is where Iowa would be at late January.

 

[GoChips20]

Legit chance UCLA/Iowa ends up a battle for the league crown. Don’t really have doubts about UCLA winning that game but Iowa has impressed me and a UCLA East Coast slipup could be very costly.

 

[BigTenGuy]

I keep thinking Michigan is the best of those 4 but they don’t actually have a win to back it up. They’ve earned their reputation by playing UConn (and later Vandy) closely but both were still losses.

Ohio State probably has the best overall win (TCU) and beat Maryland. Played UCLA competitively also.

Iowa has good wins (Baylor, Michigan State, Maryland).

MSU beat Ole Miss handily and took down Nebraska and Washington.

Honestly Michigan probably has the weakest true resume at this point but I like their ceiling the most.

Good analysis. Of the top 4 teams, Michigan has the toughest second half of the conference season, with 7 currently ranked conference games yet to be played. Will be interesting to see if they or Iowa can really compete down the stretch for the BIG title, or a share of the title. Ohio State’s loss today will make it hard for Ohio State to compete for the title.

Unless Michigan can beat UCLA in Ann Arbor, the Washington loss by Michigan will make it hard for them to be in the conference race until the end. Iowa heads to LA this week. Unless they can win at USC, will be tough for Iowa to stay in the race. Don’t think any road team is winning at UCLA.

 

[DefenseBB]

Legit chance UCLA/Iowa ends up a battle for the league crown. Don’t really have doubts about UCLA winning that game but Iowa has impressed me and a UCLA East Coast slipup could be very costly.

Battle? Not hardly. Just because Iowa may be the second best team, does not mean they can hang with UCLA because they can’t despite my rooting strongly for them to do so. After the top 5, teams 7-32 are day by day situations (meaning parity). Good for Iowa, but I highly doubt they get past the Sweet 16.

 

[mudcat]

IN and Penn St are 0-9 and 0-10 respectively in the BiG, and don't play each other until the last game of the conference schedule: will be interesting to see if either picks up a win before then or if they both are 0-17 heading into that final conference game.

 

[WBBTakeover]

Legit chance UCLA/Iowa ends up a battle for the league crown. Don’t really have doubts about UCLA winning that game but Iowa has impressed me and a UCLA East Coast slipup could be very costly.

Iowa plays USC before the UCLA game, so a West Coast slipup could be costly for them.

 

[GoChips20]

Iowa plays USC before the UCLA game, so a West Coast slipup could be costly for them.

Definitely could. Iowa’s strength is their frontcourt and USC has none to speak of, so I like the matchup, but USC’s wings could also have a field day.

 

[HuskyNan]

Quite the statement

Northwestern is 8-12

 

[Bjbod]

Really surprised at the lack of support for Maryland when looking in on their game vs Washington tonight. Yes, I know attendance was listed at 6425 so they got the financial support of selling those tickets. However the 5000 that stayed home don't create any kind of home court advantage for a key conference game.

 

[cancontent]

Interesting.

 

[BruinGold]

Interesting.

Cool, cool, cool... As a UCLA fan, I would just remind Coach Close that UCLA needs to hit the transfer portal hard in 3 months (for what, 5 or 6 players?). I spend every game thinking about which opposing players I would love to poach.

 

[BigTenGuy]

Coach Close's post-game BIG press conferences this season have 2 alternating themes as she looks down at the conference from Mt. Olympus: (1) flowers and instructions for the lesser teams and coaches (and their fans) that can dream of being as good as her current death-star team; and (2) pleas to or criticisms of the media and perhaps the public for not paying sufficient attention to her wonderful team.

Faintly similar to Bobby Knight during his IU glory years. When Knight was complimentary of your team or coach and urging them to stick together and trust the process, that meant Knight thought your team and program were not a threat. Izzo is similar to Knight in this regard. But when Knight was mad at your team, coach or crowd, your team was a real threat to IU. Hoping that at least some BIG team this season can make Close grumpy in her post-game conference. But I wouldn't bet on it. 18-0 in the BIG seems likely for UCLA.

 

[TerpWomenFan]

Really surprised at the lack of support for Maryland when looking in on their game vs Washington tonight. Yes, I know attendance was listed at 6425 so they got the financial support of selling those tickets. However the 5000 that stayed home don't create any kind of home court advantage for a key conference game.

Because of the ice storm in Maryland, very few people can leave their homes right now. Going to a Terps game wasn't a high priority yesterday.